Start a consulting business as a side hustle

Starting a part-time consulting business is a great side hustle (for those of you not familiar with a “side hustle”, it’s something you do for money aside from your regular day job).

Aspiring consultants sometimes think that they have to ditch the day job, and go full-time into consulting, and the fear of not having enough–or any–income, benefits, etc. scares them away from consulting in the first place.

But starting your consulting business part-time is a great way to lower your risk.  You won’t be freaked out about how you’ll pay the mortgage while you’re scrambling to get clients and do the billable work.  You don’t want to be desperate for work; potential clients can smell the fear, and you’ll probably end up lowering your rate and/or taking on ANY clients–including problem clients–which could waste your time.

Unless you’re extremely fortunate to have clients banging down your door with work, you won’t be quitting your day job just yet.  You’ll be testing the waters, seeing what works best, and deciding if you can–or want to–ramp up your consulting business to replace your day job.